


Never Look Back

by amusensical



Series: Forging a Bond [4]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: 18-Month Time Gap (Rusty Quill Gaming), M/M, Possible Spoilers after Episode 115, Puppy Carter, Run boy run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:47:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28393356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusensical/pseuds/amusensical
Summary: Under Cairo, Carter runs as fast as he can, down the stone corridor to the next corner. His lungs feel like panic. He slides to a stop and leans against the wall to his right, hiding, still, just for a moment. Whatever is in that box has been trapped for a long, desperate time, and Carter wants nothing more than to get rid of it.
Relationships: James Barnes/Howard Carter
Series: Forging a Bond [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079369
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Never Look Back

Under Cairo, Carter runs as fast as he can, down the stone corridor to the next corner. His lungs feel like panic. He slides to a stop and leans against the wall to his right, hiding, still, just for a moment, mouth wide open to minimize the sound of his breath. Two turns, just two more turns, then Bes will take the sack, and the sick whine in his head will stop. Whatever is in that box has been trapped for a long, desperate time, and Carter wants nothing more than to get rid of it.

Over the wheedling murmur, though, is the sound of a more immediate problem. Shuffling footsteps are behind him somewhere, somewhere in the maze he is just finally coming out of but they are still there. Two more turns.

A quick peek reveals nothing around the corner, so Carter breathes once, breathes twice, then slings himself into the next corridor. Running is simple, just go fast, get there. The next corner is further than the last one, but not much, and then one turn, just one more turn. 

“Shut up,” he says, to the noise that’s not a voice, really, but it’s trying to tell him something. “Shut up, shut up, shut up,” like a mantra with his running footsteps and his breath. To the next corner. They said it wouldn’t want to be taken, but he found the traps and opened the locks, and the box is in the sack. The sound is in his ears and messes with his hearing, with his sense of the tunnel by the echoes. He almost overshoots the corner but catches himself in time, panting, mouth open, at the last turning before the end.

_Unless it’s not the last turning and he is running away, deeper into the tunnels. Toward the footsteps. Back into the maze._

“No. Shut up. This is good, this is the right way. Shut up.” Carter’s breath comes in panting sobs as he presses against the wall where the last turning connects with this corridor. All he needs to do is make this last turning, but the whine has become a buzz, and the sound of footsteps seems louder from all directions. 

One breath, two, then turn, and run. Carter bolts, sore muscles and fear forgotten in each moment his feet grip the floor and propel him headlong forward. He can’t hear the footsteps any more, and he plunges forward, toward the faint light at the end of the corridor. 

_But wait. But, listen._ That thing (that golden thing) is a ringing and a song in his ears, and he is still running but slower, somehow, and his footsteps are shuffling now, slower. 

“Carter!” Another call, swirled into the echoes, under the ringing. Carter raises his head, listening (he doesn’t remember stopping). “Hey! Carter!” Carter shakes his head, which doesn’t actually change what he hears, but is force of habit to focus, to hear the voice that calls, that calls to him. “Come on, Carter. Run!” 

Carter runs, and Barnes is there in the light, waiting. As he bursts out of the tunnel, the footing goes from stone to sand, and Carter feels himself plummet forward. Barnes is there, saying something, but Carter can’t hear for the shrill hum blocking out everything ( _listen_ ) and lets himself fall into the sand, curling up with his hands over his ears. “Shut up, shut up, shut up,” he chants to himself, but can only feel the words in his mouth, not hear them, ears deafened by that hammering whine.

And then it’s gone, and his ears have that stuffed-with-cotton feeling when loud noise stops. Carter looks up, and sees Barnes standing over him, and Bes with the sack in his hand. 

Barnes pulls him up, then grabs him right above the elbows and shakes him, a shake that Carter continues as a head-to-boots shudder that sprays sand and finally clears his ears. Barnes’ grip doesn’t loosen until Carter is steady on his feet. Their eyes meet with a nod from Barnes and a relieved grin from Carter. 

The rest of it happens just the way they planned. The bank and offices aren’t very busy these days, but still, someone could come out of any of these doors and see them, report them. They are all dressed in maintenance coveralls, and now that they are closing the access door it probably isn’t as suspicious. Bes gives a little salute, then heads off along the side of the building, just another Egyptian halfling, walking. The sack could contain tools, lunch, anything. No reason to wonder if some insidious artifact has been removed from the old tomb, on its way away, out of the reach of bankers. And dragons. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a song from Run The Jewels, original title was “No Save Point,” also a song from Run the Jewels. Title changed because the lyrics fit better. Not well, but better. #it’s about the allusion


End file.
